Department of Biological and Health Sciences

Undergraduate Programs

The Mission of the Department of Biology and Health Sciences at Texas A&M University Kingsville is to provide excellence in teaching, research, and service. We are dedicated to the success of our students and the strong research base of our faculty allows us to provide strong academic and research experiences for undergraduates in cellular, molecular, and animal biology, biomedical science and human nutrition. Qualified undergraduates frequently help with our lab courses as Lab Assistants, thus gaining valuable learning and teaching experience. 

Program Strengths

  • A dozen active faculty research laboratories, the majority are focused on biomedical research.
  • “Teaching through research” philosophy. Aside from graduate students, nearly every faculty lab supports undergraduate research students.
  • Growth rate of over 5% per year over the last four years.
  • Strong and highly successful pre-health advising program. Of 475 undergraduate majors, 65% are in pre-health professions preparing for careers in Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Optometry, or Physical Therapy.
  • Biology is a South Texas pipeline for students transitioning to Ph.D. or professional programs.

Graduate Programs

The Department of Biological and Health Sciences offers a Master of Science degree in Biology. The program started in 1966 and since more than 130 graduate students received their M.S. degrees. We offer a variety of courses and research opportunities in Biomedical Science, Organismal Biology, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. Our faculty are experts in a wide range of disciplines, such as Genetics and Epigenetics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Neurobiology, Cell Biology, Cell and Animal Physiology, Nerve Regeneration, Infectious Diseases, Cancer Biology, Invertebrate Biology, Animal Behavior and Ichthyology, Ornithology, Herpetology, Mammalogy, Plant Biology and Systematics, Marine Ecology, Ecological Modeling and Global Change Biology. 

Human Nutrition

Students in human nutrition study concepts including dietetics, food systems management and community food principles, nutrition, medical nutrition therapy, experimental foods, community nutrition, quantity food preparation and food service management. The human nutrition program is a Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND).

Student Opportunities

See professional experience, research, experiential, and education opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.